Two groups trying to buy Eldred land, would end Alpine Rose project

The Pennsylvania Game Commission and Wildlands Conservancy Inc. are finalizing the purchase of 354 acres along the Blue Mountain that would mean the end of plans for a private, high-performance car track.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission and Wildlands Conservancy Inc. are finalizing the purchase of 354 acres along the Blue Mountain that would mean the end of plans for a private, high-performance car track.

Game commissioners on Monday approved acquiring the land near the Appalachian Trail in Eldred Township, where developer Richard Muller Jr. long envisioned building the Alpine Motorsports club.

Settlement on the $3.8 million purchase by the Lower Macungie Township-based conservancy is scheduled for late next month, the nonprofit's president, Christopher Kocher, said Wednesday. The conservancy is facilitating the purchase, but the game commission would take ownership of the land, according to Dave Mitchell, a land management supervisor for the commission.

The acreage would be added to State Game Lands 168, which extends over the crest of the Blue Mountain into Northampton County, he said.

"We would manage it," Mitchell said Wednesday. "It would be open to the public."

Muller, who lives in Hanover Township, Northampton County, did not return calls for comment Tuesday and Wednesday. Despite a pending agreement of sale, Muller's attorney said Wednesday the sale is not a sure thing.

"The property is still owned by Alpine Motorsports," counsel Emil Kantra II said. "It's still owned by Alpine, and right now the owner is looking at a variety of options as far as moving forward with the development versus a potential sale."

Muller has envisioned the track, once known as the Alpine Rose resort, for more than 20 years. Environmentalists opposed to racing engines and screeching tires a stone's throw from the Appalachian Trail challenged the plan up to the Commonwealth Court, which upheld Muller's right to develop the project, Kantra said.

"All the approvals are in place," Kantra said, referring to township approval and highway-occupancy and stormwater permits.

"The last thing they had to do with us was to enter into a land-development agreement and to post a performance bond," Kaspszyk said. "Those were the two main things left to be done."

He said the township had not been told the public acquisition was nearing completion.

"We had had rumors that that type of negotiations have been going on," he said, noting that he would not be surprised the township was not alerted: "They don't need our permission to convey it to a third party."

Plans called for a 28-turn track with a mile-long straightway and 220 feet of track elevation changes following the contour of the land's rise along the Blue Mountain's north slope, according to the Alpine Motorsports website. With nine course configurations, the resort was to be open 180 days a year, weather permitting, between April and November — with an additional 28 days available to certain members.

The website bills the project as "shovel ready" and says construction is ready to begin within 90 days of funding. As of 2007, Muller was selling lifetime memberships at $44,000 apiece.

Easton attorney Charles Elliott represented opponents to the project. He said Wednesday he, too, had heard "that the property is in the process of being acquired." He said he couldn't identify the parties involved or discuss the details of the transaction, but said such a deal would be a victory for opponents.

"Any acquisition that would conserve the area in a manner that protects the values of the Appalachian Trail is a victory," Elliott said. "We consistently took the position that the operation of a high-performance sports-car track in that area, with its attendant noise, would impair the values of the Appalachian Trail. So that property should be kept for conservation, open spaces and in a passive recreational use."

The Pennsylvania Game Commission approved spending $1 million total to acquire the Alpine Motorsports land and a second tract in Schuylkill County, Mitchell said. Additional funding is coming from a settlement over loss of wildlife habitat with the parties responsible for the Palmerton Zinc Pile Superfund Site north of the Blue Mountain from the border between Northampton and Carbon counties. A $400,000 open-space grant from Monroe County is pending toward the purchase, said Kocher, from the Wildlands Conservancy.

The forested land protects more than a half-mile of the Aquashicola Creek and lies along a migratory bird flyway, officials said. The conservancy has worked for years on acquiring the land as an alternative to the motorsports resort, Kocher said.

"The property is under agreement, which obviously is a significant step," he said. "And we're looking forward to acquiring the property and transferring it to the Pennsylvania Game Commission to provide critical ... natural habitat and acres for the public to enjoy the resources on that property."